Pakistan Speaks out! Survey Blog on Terrorism issue faced and the role of Pakistan Army

January 4, 2015

The question is not in my mind that we don’t know who is our enemy. The question has always been . Does the government have the will to go after them? I mean both foreign and domestic. Recently I wrote that how the government’s vote bank drew from Taliban mindset in Punjab and one of the reasons why sorting the issue or taking it by the horn would be a challenge. But the recent steps taken by Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister of the country by calling the APC with the intent to finally put his foot down on the accumulated issue of Talibanization in the country by extending full support to Pakistan Army for it to conduct meaningful operation against Talibans in KPK has definitely increased his political stature infront of my eyes at least . Though I have been much critical of him recently. In today’s press conference the statement by his interior minister Ch. Nisar that they would continue with the operation even though they loose future elections is hence proving the theory that by forging ahead with the operation they might loose conservative or the rightwing vote bank of those Pakistanis who are just anti Pakistan. But good that still they intend to move ahead with the decision.

The new security emergency has been rolled out . The reformation or activation of NECTA are good signs that the government wants to take all stakeholders along to resolve the issues faced by this nation as of today. Have said it in the past and would repeat it again today that Pakistan Army is one of the key stakeholders in this nation not because of just being the largest most organized force in the country but because they form the first and the last line of defence in front of our enemies both foreign and domestic. The Army has shown its intention to operate much before the unfortunate Peshawar incident when they kick started Operation Zarb e Azb with the consent of the political government of course. The notion raised by some skeptical Pakistanis that why the intensity only after Peshawar Massacre. The answer to them is that it’s the wrong perception that our Army has been complacent. They have been fighting the Talibans much before. What has changed after the dark date of Dec 16th 2014 is that the will of the political forces which were divided before this date has become united after this gory incident. Just wish that this unanimous will to fight Talibanization would have happened before. Anyways! better late than never now that Pakistan Army is fighting a war for all Pakistanis not what many said there own wish for adventure.

People have been talking about New Pakistan for the last couple of months. But unfortunately that has been around only one main agenda i.e. electoral reforms. Unfortunately all and sundry did speak about all that can challenge one’s wish list inclusive of health care and education in addition. What pained me the most that no one pointed out the quintessential issue of radicalization of the country recently ? All kept mum about it. Both the government and the leading opposition. Apart from Gen Syed Pervez Musharraf and MQM who both kept on challenging that this is the biggest issue the country face today and have been victims of such mindset of the last many years.

But when I saw a young chap like Jibran Nasir standing outside Red Mosque in Islamabad and protesting against the hard line cleric who did not denounce the Dec 16th massacre is the change we needed in this nation. Just for the record that whilst the brother of this cleric would be known getting killed in action rightly done by Pakistan Army and so his father. His legacy would always be the Burqa he adorned a few nights before the final push to run away as a coward. Again what the civil society did there when led by Jibran shows that people care. What was unfortunate was that some people in the media who are actually government employees like Orya Maqbool Jan whose claim to fame is that he looks like a mouth piece of radical Pakistanis came out to do personal attack on Jibran instead of denouncing people like Abdul Aziz ( I choose not to call him a Maulana on purpose as it is a disgrace for our religion to associate him with the best religion of the world). Such people should also be tried for terrorism. Inclusive of JI former chief i.e. Munawar Hassan who called that Talibans killed are martyred and not our Army boys who are sending them for their fate.

This is exactly the issue I have. People tell me that we should look at what the government is doing constructively. But my problem is that the nation is made to believe that the issue of Talibanization is just a KPK issue or a Pashtun issue. The issue is much bigger. Its been there for decades and not restricted to KPK only. What has happened that as the on the border of Afghanistan ; the issue bloated over there ? The question is that is it only Pashtuns who have a Taliban mentality? The answer is a big No.

I decided to conduct a National Level survey recently where I asked 5 questions from Pakistanis seeing the many questions arising in the public about the legitimacy of the planned moves. :

Qs 1 Is the Pakistan Army crackdown against the Terrorists and Talibans justified?
Qs 2 Has the Pakistan Government taken concrete steps to support crackdown against terrorists?
Qs 3 Do you think that political parties have played their role enough in supporting Pakistan Army in its crackdown against Terrorists & Talibans?
Qs 4 Do you support Capital Punishment against Terrorists or Talibans involved in killings of Pakistanis?
Qs 5 Do you support military courts to prosecute terrorists as current judicial system in its current form cannot impart justice due to various factors?

The criticality of these questions and doing the survey is to show our political leadership what Pakistanis who actually voted for them want from them to decide and take action. Till filing of this blog . Following feedback was received for each of the questions. Just for the record that the survey was done on a certified website i.e. Survey Monkey which serves many corporates globally for their customer surveys and feedback. The demographic was various groups shared by Pakistanis across not restricted to certain demographics . I wanted to really take an honest opinion so that I can form my own honest opinion and convey Pakistanis message to their Pakistani leadership. The result shared is after 48 hours of overwhelming responses by Pakistanis so much so that I had to upgrade my free subscription seeing the number of responses :

If the government has taken right decisions. Than looking at this survey blog they should be proud of taking the right decision because of public support. If not thinking in these lines they should be vary that this is what Pakistanis want :

Qs 1 Is the Pakistan Army crackdown against the Terrorists and Talibans justified?

Overwhelmingly 97% of the Pakistanis voted “Yes” on this means that there should be no second thought on this. So if the government decides on this . Perfect! But the sentiment is beyond operation in KPK.

Qs 2 Has the Pakistan Government taken concrete steps to support crackdown against terrorists?

78% of the people feel that the government has still not taken concrete steps till now. Though they have formed committees . Taken consent of all parties. Doing amendments in laws. But civilian government’s action against extremist elements are yet to be seen as none of the hangings have happened outside militarily prosecuted people . No major arrests have been done by them. Infact Abdul Aziz of Red Mosque still remains scot free though arrest warrants have been issued against them. Reason why , people are still wary about the will of the government . Though 16% of the voted “No” as they feel happy or satisfied with the government actions till now and 6% votes as “Don’t Know” .

Qs 3 Do you think that political parties have played their role enough in supporting Pakistan Army in its crackdown against Terrorists & Talibans?

84% of the people still belief that political parties have not done enough to support Pakistan Army in the operation against Talibans. Though now they have consented but we have seen many bills passed in the past and committees formed. Its all about execution and we cannot expect the Army to take care of everything when a civilian government is in force. They are fighting the menance . They have extended support with Military courts. Now its upto the civilian government and other political parties some of whom may be Taliban leaning to come out and support Pakistan Army in its action against Taliban.

Qs 4 Do you support Capital Punishment against Terrorists or Talibans involved in killings of Pakistanis?

Ban ki moon called Pakistan government and asked for suspension of the hangings. We have seen some stoppage of which. Well 97% of Pakistanis are demanding that at least those who have been accused and found guilty of Terrorism or planning Terrorism must be hanged immediately and we saw the excitement amongst Pakistanis with only those supporting this mindset coming out stopping these.

Qs 5 Do you support military courts to prosecute terrorists as current judicial system in its current form cannot impart justice due to various factors?

Well first some political parties opposed it like MQM whilst the rest agreed in the APC to support military court. But later we saw some more parties who joined the bandwagon like PPP and surprisingly PTI opposing formation of such courts. Well I am sure that some of these awaiting hangings are politically motivated or lack of strength of prosecution and justice sometimes imparted in Pakistan . Reason why maybe the concern. But with the government clarifiying that all such cases only proven based on terrorism would be served with executions and also that the similar nature cases would be only treated in such military courts. We know for sure that due to the various threats why some of our honorable judges would be afraid to try these terrorists . Reason why Military courts are being set up. 91% of Pakistanis voted “Yes” or supported such courts and 8% voted “No”.

Now as Pakistanis have spoken out there should be no qualms. I would recommend that if someone doubt this can get in touch for further details. Infact I would say professional research teams should be employed to do so. As with my limited resources and time. I could do so much and I am impressed as Pakistanis voiced their opinions.

By such a response our Armed forces and especially Pakistan Army should feel that people of Pakistan are with them and they should not hesitate a bit to take action against such terrorist elements across the country as per my last blog : “The last Resort: Pakistan Army” where oaths were highlighted in the constitution to defend people of Pakistan . Many questioned that why am I dragging Pakistan Army into a civilian issue. My answer to that was simple. I strongly believe that our Army is the only sincere institution right now I can trust for ensuring my security. Looks like the civilian forces also look to them at this sensitive time as we have lost 132 lives of our children though 61000 Pakistanis too late.

But for me the madressah’s or seminaries exist across the country. The man who murdered the former governor of Punjab Salman Taseer was not a Pashtun and is still not hanged. Malik Ishaque is not a Pashtun who confessed of killing more than 100 Shia Pakistanis and have been released recently. Wonder for what ? Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan or ASWJ (Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat) are not Pashtun origin groups. The tenacity of these people or groups have been equally horrendous for Pakistanis . Let it be massacres of all kinds of Pakistanis let them be Sunnis , Shias , Christians , Hindus or Ahmedis across the country not specifically in KPK speaks volumes that the time has come to ensure that the clean up operation is conducted across the country and those who have already chosen the path of extremism are vanquished for good. New recruitment must be stopped showing these groups untouchables as has been the view in the past. Financing must stop. Radicalization of Madressah’s must stop and what has been a system to educate poor Pakistanis must be used to deliver what it is meant for . Giving nation educated Pakistanis not radicalized Pakistanis.

I strongly feel that if we do not take a strong resolve and do not stand up against the terrorist elements than a similar faith as of Dec 16th 2014 may unfortunately wait for us in the future. The way for the first time the civilian society looked agitated and came on the streets shows that finally a New Pakistan is in formation after a sacrifice of 132 or more young souls. This showed clearly that the way Pakistanis have overwhelmingly united behind to conduct operation against Talibans behind Pakistan Army and forced their respective political parties to take decisive action against the very root cause of Pakistan’s problems.

All Pakistanis want is a peaceful and a prosperous Pakistan where globally we are not seen with doubt , we are not seen with pity or we are not seen with anger but with jealousy that we are from Pakistan for our achievements. The same nation which Quaid e Azam dreamed about back in 1947 . Pakistan Zindabad!